


In Another Life

by lowaters



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-02
Updated: 2017-03-02
Packaged: 2018-09-27 20:58:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10048961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lowaters/pseuds/lowaters
Summary: AU – Kara didn’t get the job with Cat. She became a teacher instead.





	

“No. Absolutely not. Next.”

Cat Grant was nothing if not efficient. Hiring an assistant became second nature to her – pretty, not too pretty, smart, not smart enough to be smug about it, the right amount of timorousness, intuition and a healthy dose of deference.

This – _girl_ in front of her, well. She would not do.

“Miss Grant, I would love the opportunity-“

“There will be no such opportunity. Not for you,” Cat replied smartly, taking a quick look up at the girl before returning to her laptop. “I suggest you leave now before I define ‘absolutely not’, as I’m sure that’s a waste of both of our times.”

The girl looked defeated – not that she looked up to see that reaction, no, but who wouldn’t be? Working under her was a privilege, and the only reason anyone would possibly submit to the = harried work and inevitable premature firing.

“I…Then I won’t waste any more of your time, Miss Grant.”

“You do that,” she replied tersely, already wanting this day to be over even though it was only 10.20. “Witt?” She called loudly from her office, before the girl has even passed the threshold.

Winn rushed in, and not even the wrath of Cat Grant could stop his moronic gaze from taking in the girl a little too appreciatively, who walked straight past him and onto the elevator, head down the whole way.

“Which one was that? Where are we on the list?”

“That was Kara Danvers, Miss Grant. Your 10.15.”

“Fine. Send in my 10.30.”

\---

Cat Grant was late. And she can be late to board meetings, and to dates, and to her own damn funeral if she so pleases.

But being late for Carter – that one smarts.

If only, _if only,_ whichever useless assistant she’d been foolish enough to trust had managed to get her layouts to her on time, this wouldn’t have happened. But as it stands, she’s spent the past two hours trying to push squares together to make a circle and she’s still fifteen minutes from Carter’s school.

As her driver accelerates following her not-so-subtle kick into the back of his seat, she re-applies her makeup in a small compact mirror and cursing the way the skies look ready to pour.

She’s cursed a lot of things today.

“We’re here, Miss Grant.”

“Thank you, Andrew. And no need to wait, I’ll arrange for another driver to take me home.”

“Thank you, Miss Grant,” he replied, giving a small smile, knowing this was the closest Cat Grant came to an apology, obfuscated as it was.

Cat left the car, marching as quick as one could in three inch heels over a gravelled driveway, before climbing quickly up the stairs to the school entrance.

“Mom!” Came the joyous cry, causing Cat to turn sharply towards the beautiful sound of her son.

“Carter,” she breathed, already crouching down to catch his hug. “I’m so sorry to have kept you waiting, sweetheart.”

“That’s fine,” Carter replied instantaneously, slightly out of breath from his run. “I’ve been having fun!”

Cat narrowed her eyes in slight reproach. “As much fun as you have with me?”

“Never,” Carter replied shyly, stepping out of the hug. “But c’mon, we have to hurry – Miss Teschmacher is up first.”

And with that, Cat begun the ordeal that was parent’s evening. Well, ordeal probably wasn’t the right word, seeing as how there’s nothing Cat enjoyed more in the world than talking about her son – and it didn’t hurt that the other party on this evening was paid to listen.

“Carter is an excellent student, Miss Grant,” was said by his art teacher, probably the fourth or fifth to proffer the same staid phrase, but Cat never tired of hearing it.

 “Who’s next Carter? You’ve been so good tonight, darling, I’m so proud,” she said, combing a hand through his curls. She has seen how squirmish Carter was under any praise, but also how, even head down, she could see his small smile and how he always nodded up to the teacher in acknowledgement.

“Thanks, Mom,” he replies quietly, a lot of his energy taken from being so in the spotlight for the evening.

 He looks back to his programme, that he’s been hastily crossing off throughout the night. “Oh cool!” He exclaims, and Cat is taken aback by his unexpected burst of energy. “It’s English. Mom-“ he begins, grasping for her hand to take her to the back of the large hall. “English,” he repeats emphatically, waiting for Cat to understand the significance.

Cat did, to an extent. It’s been just over a month now that Cat has witnessed her son’s rapture with the subject that never seemed to capture his attention before. How, where before he’d immerse himself in nature documentaries and lab reports from school, he’d taken to reading books before bedtime, asking Cat to look over this poem or this section from a play.

Cat had relished in it, finding something akin to her own fire in her son’s eyes when discussing words. She’d worried, in a selfish way, that his beautiful brain worked so different to her own that she soon wouldn’t be able to keep up but this – the words, the literature, that he’d become so immersed in – this, she could do.

“Carter!” Came an enthused shout from the far side of the hall they were rapidly approaching, under Carter’s nagging tugs of her hand.

“Mom, come on. Hi!” Carter replied, turning away from his mother to his English teacher. “This is my mom, Cat Grant. Mom, this is my new English teacher, Miss Danvers.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Miss Danvers,” Cat said, extending her hand to the woman who had seemingly ignited a fire in her son.

“We’ve met before, Miss Grant, but I imagine this time to be more pleasurable,” came the reply, and Cat looked up into blue eyes and struggled to place them. “And please, call me Kara.”

\---

“Carter is an excellent student, Miss Grant,” and Cat stopped herself barely from rolling her eyes, because it had now become a tad grating. “And-“ Kara continued, holding her hand up to stem any replies, taking Cat aback. “I don’t mean that to be a platitude. I mean that because he is attentive, and intuitive, two things which people typically think will benefit in something like Chemistry or Mathematics, but it’s in English that these two things are most useful.”

Kara pauses, as if waiting for a reply, but Cat Grant sits in silence, face neutral as she observes this – well, _woman,_ she’d apparently dismissed in 10 seconds months ago. She’s not surprised – she knows how ruthless she can be – but this woman seems like someone Cat could’ve recognised, should’ve seen in her entirety. But she hadn’t.

“Your son,” Kara begins again, nodding to Carter in acknowledgement even as he kept his gaze mostly flitting between the desk and Kara’s eyes, “is able to pick up any poem I give him and tell me something new without the support of any biographical information. He can tell me if he thinks it’s Edward Thomas or Yeats without knowing the date or the title because he knows _how_ people write, Miss Grant. Can figure out style from a few poems and apply it to other movements, other time periods, it’s – you’re quite extraordinary, Carter,” Kara finishes on a laugh, catching Carter’s glance and giving him a goofy wave when he looks up at her.

Cat looks at Kara as if she’s grown a second head, at which point Kara slowly closes her waving hand into a fist, bringing it back to her lap.

“Yes, well,” Kara says, pushing her glasses up her nose. “I think Carter has a gift for English, certainly, but particularly poetry. I think you should- I mean, if you want- Carter would really benefit from not just reading it. But writing. We have an afterschool club, I run it every other week and Miss Lane runs it the other week. Tonight’s her night and well – I thought Carter might enjoy it.”

“Carter?” Cat looks down to her son, not directly acknowledging Kara. “Is that something you’d like?”

“I-“ Carter begins, stopping almost immediately and trying to organise his words before he speaks. “I would like it. To try. Miss Danvers thinks that I’d be good and she said… She said she used to have trouble with saying the right words, sometimes, and she said that sometimes when you write them down it’s easier to see what you mean than in your head where they’re less clear. I’d – I’d like that.”

Cat looks sharply up at Kara following Carter’s speech, and Kara had the grace to look embarrassed for having spoken to personally to her son.

“Miss Grant, Carter is an excellent student, as I mentioned, but I know that not everyone will see that. They’re _wrong,”_ Kara emphasised, perhaps seeing the way Cat drew herself up with a breath to argue, “they are so very wrong. And I hate that Carter is forced into situations where he feels unsure and scared because people think that will help him, but it will happen Miss Grant. At the poetry club,” Kara begins, eyes sparkling as she speaks of it, “everyone gets asked questions to answer. But they get five minutes between being asked the question and answering, and if anyone really doesn’t want to, they just have to pass me a note, no questions asked. And everyone gets to write their ideas down, and can choose who they want to answer to that day. I think-“

“Carter would love it there.” Cat agreed, nodding at Kara. “I’ll bring him by next week.”

“Thank you,” Kara breathed out, smiling shyly at Cat and turning to Carter. “It’s a joy to get to teach you, Carter. Almost makes me glad your mom didn’t consider me a suitable assistant for a second,” Kara finishes, grinning at Cat to soften the words.

“It was a pleasure to see you again, Miss Grant.”

“It’s Cat, Miss Danvers,” she replied, gathering her things and getting ready to walk away. “Let’s hope this club of your isn’t disappointing,” she finishes dryly, wanting nothing more than to let this day wash off of her and enjoy an evening with her son.

“Well, I’m not in the habit of being a disappointment,” she finishes, causing something in Cat to flare and settle warmly in her stomach. “I’ll see you soon, Cat.”

\---

It’s been a week since Kara had seen Miss Grant – for the second time, in person, but in the hundreds overall, given her talk show and magazine that Kara had never managed to escape since moving to National City.

It’s why she had interviewed to be her assistant. Watching someone ascend to such great heights was so powerful to Kara. She had wanted to learn, and to be moulded, she supposed, by someone who yielded power and knew what to do with it.

Kara sighed, hearing the ding of the microwave and forcing herself up from the comfortable dent in the couch.

It had been rough, trying to balance her new job with her desire to be a reporter. Being an English teacher had its benefits, and she truly enjoyed getting to inspire young people. But she couldn’t shake her desire to be out there, in the field, to bring truth to more people than the ten that sat in her class each day.

Still – she would have liked to have worked for Miss Grant. Well, Cat now, she supposes. Seeing her with her son had thrown her for a loop, having spent the past few months occasionally thinking less-than-kind words about the ruthless woman who wouldn’t deign to look at her.

Especially after she’d bought and worn lipgloss for that day.

Packing up the heated potstickers into an old takeout box, she grabbed her keys and coat and hightailed out of the apartment, ready to help Lucy with the poetry club.

\---

“Kara?” Cat questioned, looking at the slumped figure outside the classroom inhaling food she was certain the teacher was supposed to be _teaching_.

“Miss- I mean Cat,” Kara responded hastily, climbing up from the floor and wiping her fingers on the thigh of her trousers. “I- Luc- Miss Lane is running a session at the moment. Everyone paired up and- well, I think it’s too nerdy for even nerds to be paired with their teachers. Not that Carter is- it’s a good thing-“

Cat raised one hand, and Cat relished in the knowledge that there was an audible click as Kara closed her mouth.

“I merely said your name. No need to have a conniption.”

“I- sorry. I’m not usually this-“

“Weird?” Cat jeered, and immediately regretted how juvenile the insult was, which she knows she’s inherited from Carter. Before she has time to blush, Cat is gifted with the sound of Kara’s laughter.

“Well, I’m always _weird,_ Miss Grant,” she replies, grinning widely. “I was going to say nervous. Must be something about you.”

From anyone else, Cat would have taken the words for what they were – an unsubtle, cliché call to flirt. But this girl – this _woman_ , Cat corrected herself, with her beautiful eyes and earnest face, who was so, _so,_ young – didn’t look like she could possess an ounce of desire for someone like Cat.

“Well, don’t be, there’s not much to be nervous about,” Cat replied dryly, gesturing down at herself in a self-effacing way which had never been her nature, _ever._

Kara looked at her, and it had been a while since Cat had seen that look directed at her and _wanted_ it. Kara took a small step forward, but it was enough to put her within a foot of Cat.

“There’s everything to be nervous about. You’re one of the most powerful and beautiful women on the planet, Miss Grant, and I know you just saw me wipe teriyaki sauce on my trousers. And they’re _white.”_ Kara whispered, as if letting her in on a joke, and Cat smiled in spite of herself.

_Powerful and beautiful._

“Students in classrooms in the east wing, please remain seated and in your room. A small fire has erupted in the science laboratory in the other building and we ask you to remain clear while the fire department do their work. Anyone in the east wing and not in a classroom, please head to the fire exit by the football stadium. Thank you.”

The sudden ringing of the alarm bell and turning on of the overhead sprinklers wad not scary, so much as _annoying._ If students were remaining in their classrooms, the fire had to be miniscule for them to even consider it, making the sprinklers excessive at the least as far as Cat was concerned.

As soon as the sprinklers began, she watched as Kara tore off her cardigan and held it over Cat’s head. Ineffective as a beige, woollen cardigan was as a cover from water, Cat appreciated the gesture – and the effect it had on the tight black t-shirt Kara wore underneath.

“Let’s go, Miss Grant. The exit is this way,” she began walking, holding the cardigan up over Cat and leading from her side.

After a short, rapid walk, Cat found herself in the fading sunlight, still wrapped up in Kara’s cardigan, protective arm around her shoulders.

“Kara – I think the sun may do a better job than your wet cardigan now,” she said unkindly, shaking off the flutter she felt from having felt so safely ensconced in Kara’s arms.

“Oh- of course,” she replied, smiling nervously, pulling the cardigan down and beginning to wring out the water.

Cat did _not_ like the way Kara’s biceps expanded with the movement, pushing her wet sleeves up to her shoulders as she moved. She did not like it _one bit._

Kara finished with the cardigan, settling it down on the bench nearby before sitting down herself, gesturing for Cat to do the same.

Cat sat down, leaving a respectable distance between them and gazing with annoyance at Kara’s arms which still hadn’t had the decency to be covered away.

“How long until I can see my son, Kara?”

“Well the department are almost here, see,” she notes, pointing down the highway where the truck is beginning to turn off. “So another ten minutes, I’d say.”

“And just what do you suppose we do then, Kara?”

There was a wicked gleam in Kara’s eyes, and Cat caught her breath at the sight of it.

“Well, Miss Grant,” Kara said, leaning closer. “Have you ever heard of truth or dare?”

\---

“Miss Danvers said I should try to read some Nerdua. Because it’s in Spanish, see, so I’d learn Spanish and English at the same time. How cool is that? And it’s sad, sure, but it’s never melodramatic, it’s all so purposeful-“

“Purposeful?” Cat questioned, wondering how her young boy had grown up so quickly, but it’s as if she hadn’t spoken.

“-and Miss Danvers said _Tonight I can write the saddest lines_ is her favourite – which is weird, because, y’know, it’s so sad and Miss Danvers; is-“

“A veritable ray of sunshine, yes, we both know this,” Cat says, half-amused and half-grumpy that with her son so enamoured, she can’t really follow-through on her promise to herself to not think of that _damned_ woman she’d only met a handful of times.

“Miss Danvers asked about you, you know,” Carter said casually, but Cat saw the way his mouth ticked up as if repressing a smile.

“Did she now?” Cat replied, her face expressionless, and if Carter had better hearing he’d know her heartbeat was off the charts. “And just what did the wondrous Miss Danvers have to say?”

“That she likes you. Some of the other boys- well. They were mean about you, they were saying that you don’t come to the school trips like their moms do but I know,” Carter sped on, before Cat’s heart had a chance to break, “that you come whenever you can. And you’re always there when I need you, _always,_ and I don’t need you on those stupid trips. But Miss Danvers saw it happen and she told me that I was lucky to have someone as smart and courageous as she knew you’d had to be to raise me and maintain CatCo. She said that you were good and kind to her, even though you had no reason to be.”

At this, Cat scoffed, remembering the familiar ache of wrongness that she’d dismissed Kara so quickly – this woman who took so much time to support her son and seemingly defend her honor. And she was so very beautiful.

“Well, it’s good to know you’re doing so well, sweetheart. Now, let’s get you to bed so I can sit through this insufferable dinner.”

\---

The dinner had been in her calendar for a month now – some petty indulgence she’d allowed herself after one too many bourbons, thinking that a _date_ of all things was what she needed to occupy her limited time with.

Still, she supposes that Maxwell Lord is far from the worst choice she could have made. If anything, a picture or two with him in the tabloids might attract some of the same ilk that she could spend some time with in future, should she find herself not regretting the whole farce.

The restaurant he’d chosen was – _acceptable._ More than, actually, with its modern, brightly lit interiors and menu with no prices.

Cat approach the maître d’, wordlessly announcing her arrival and was met with a subdued and polite ‘Miss Grant’ while hands relieved her of her bag and coat, leading her to her table.

“Wait,” Cat said, before she was in full sight of Lord, opting to show up slightly late and take a few minutes to herself. “Bathroom.”

\---

With the lid down on one of the stalls, Cat perched, touching her lipstick up in the compact mirror and pulling with frustration at the faint lines around her eyes. Time waits for no one, not even Cat Grant, but it wasn’t a defeat she’d yet accepted.

“She’s smitten, Alex!” Came a voice from outside her stall. Cat rolled her eyes, not particularly wanting to be privy to bathroom confessions from strangers.

“She is _not._ I know my sister, Lucy, and she’s – look, we just need to get her talking about something else because I get that teaching is _regifting to the world_ or whatever crap she just said, but there’s a limit to how much I can hear.”

“Okay, well we’re talking about different things. Because I said she’s _smitten,_ Alex. And she likes her new job, that’s great, but what about the fact that she wants to bang her student’s mom?”

Cat made the pointless gesture of flushing the toilet, hoping to drown the noise of the two imbeciles out and finally ready to get to her date. Opening the door and going through the motions of washing her hands, she didn’t notice the sudden tensing of one of the women.

“Ignore that, Alex we should-“

“Kara doesn’t want to bang anyone okay! Please don’t talk about my sister and banging anyone’s mom ever again. Just, no.”

Cat recognised that she wasn’t so much washing her hands as holding them ineffectively under too-hot water. While the noise of the conversation was something she could’ve ignored, the site of her son’s poetry club leader Miss Lane and the name _Kara_ were not things she could ignore.

“Miss Lane,” Cat nodded curtly at the woman, who gave her a stilted nod in return and a shaky ‘Miss Grant’ in response. She turned to the other woman – Kara’s sister – and felt the weight of their conversation sink into her.

“You must be Miss Danvers,” she started, remembering her decorum and holding out a hand to shake. “Your sister is quite extraordinary and she has been a miracle worker with my son. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but- well, that’s beside the point.” Cat swallowed, thinking on what to say next.

_Anyone would be lucky to have Kara. She deserves the best, make sure she gets it. She’s far too beautiful for anyone out there, I see her now._

_It’s too late._

“I must be getting to dinner,” she settles on, knowing no other option would lead anywhere good. “Have a good evening, ladies.”

In her wake, two women were left with mouths open and hearts stuttering.

“Was that-“

“Yes.”

“Did she hear-“

“Yes. And yes, Kara is going to kill us.”

\---

Cat strode over to Lord with as much confidence as she could muster. She had chosen this dress to seduce – its black was highlighted by diamonds at her throat and wrist, wrapped around her like a second skin that breathed when she did.

As she sat down after the perfunctionary air kisses with Max, she had never been more sure that she was going to seduce tonight, and never been more sure that it was for the wrong reasons.

“Some wine, Cat?” Lord asked, leaning forward and smirking at her, eyes lost somewhere on the way to her face.

“Some bourbon, Lord. I don’t think this will take long, do you?” She asked rhetorically, downing the glass of wine he had pre-emptively ordered for her. She smirked back, and the hollow feeling in her gut wasn’t counteracted by the burn of the alcohol as she had hoped.

\---

“Code Red, Kara,” Lucy said the instant that she sat down, Alex taking the seat next to her and looking vaguely guilty and affronted all at once.

“What’s Code Red? Do we have codes now?” Kara asked confusedly, setting down her glass.

They had come to celebrate Alex’s new job – some secret thing that Kara knew was very cool and very dangerous – and Kara had been lost in her thoughts of what to eat, given nothing on this menu sounded familiar and she’d already gone over her budget on wine for the three.

“Kara, we-“ Alex joined in, hands spread on the table, looking at Kara beseechingly. “Lucy and I were chatting. In the bathroom. And we didn’t know, well, but-“

“Cat Grant was in the stall and we might have been talking about how much you love her.”

A deathly silence fell over the table, the sound of Lucy’s ragged breath after confessing the only sound to be heard.

“I mean- what-“ Kara began to again be cut off.

“Well, not _love._ More like…”

“Like what?” Kara said, some fire in her eyes that Lucy wasn’t used to seeing reflected at her.

“Like you…wanted to bang her? Maybe?”

Kara looked at her hands, clenched tightly in her lap.

_Cat Grant is here. Cat Grant knows I like her._

_My sister and her idiot girlfriend are going to die._

“I have to talk to her,” Kara announced and the two, not privy to her inner monologue, looked up in surprise.

“Are you sure, Kara? Are you not mad at us-“

“Oh, I’m very mad. But I’m more sure that I need to talk to Cat before she thinks some kind of sex maniac is teaching her son and spouting to everyone around how much they like her!”

“Well we didn’t quite say that…” Lucy began, but trailing off in understanding that she didn’t have much of a defence at the moment.

“I’ll be back,” she said, standing from their table and searching around the restaurant.

\---

“Hmm and then what, Lord?” Cat asked indulgently, already knowing at this point to ask questions occasionally, nod and smile throughout the answer, and do as best as she could to not waste her brain power on listening to any of the details that Lord responded with, lest she bash her own head against the table for the duration of dinner.

It wasn’t that he was boring per se, it was that Cat, foolish Cat, couldn’t stop thinking about what she’d overheard. She hadn’t before _seriously_ considered any attraction to Kara. Her son’s teacher for goodness sake.

She was beautiful, yes. And not in an everyday way – she was beautiful in a way that was strong and arresting, possessing almost. She was kind – to her and her son, though she had done nothing to deserve it – and she always seemed to be nervous around Cat. Nervous in a way that tickled her, because it wasn’t the way employees were nervous, through fear, but – something else. And now, _now_ of all times, she couldn’t stop thinking about her. Now, when she actively considered it, it was too late.

She was here with Maxwell Lord, who is powerful, handsome, rich and willing, and she wants Kara.

“How about a dance, Cat?” Lord asked, drawing her out of her thoughts. She jolted to realise the live band had started, and patrons had begun to use the centre space for slow dancing. “I see our conversation isn’t getting much further – perhaps a change of pace is needed.”

“Let’s see what you can do, Lord.”

As he pulls her to the dancefloor, and tight into his body, Cat can’t pretend it’s anything other than bitter jealousy and ego that leads her to grasp at his neck and pull him down into a hungry kiss when she sees the bright blue eyes of Kara over his shoulder.

\---

“Wait, Kara, what happened?” Lucy asks, unnerved to see Kara returning so shortly with tears building in her eyes.

“Let it go, Lucy, I need- I have to go,” Kara says, grabbing her coat and purse and turning without a second glance.

“Luce- I need to-“

“Go. I’ll wait here for you,” Lucy replied immediately, shoeing Alex away to follow her sister.

Alex took off, but her sister had a good start on her.

“Kara!” Alex yelled, taking no heed of the rich clientele looking at her with reproach. “Kara!”

But Kara had no intention of stopping, even as her route to the exit took her past Cat Grant and that _man._

Alex pulled to a halt on the dancefloor, knowing when her sister didn’t want to be followed. She took stock of where she was and saw the woman that had her sister so upset, the woman that Kara could scarcely stop talking about throughout the starter. The woman that was staring after Kara, even as the man she was with kept her wrapped up in his arms from behind.

Cat startled, and stepped away from him. Making eye contact with Kara’s sister, and seeing the anger in her eyes, Cat began to think she may have got this situation very, very wrong.

\---

“Goddamit Kara, pick up,” Alex muttered to herself, pacing in the parking lot. Kara had only been gone for two minutes but Alex needed to make a call on whether to stay at the restaurant or go. And if she was going, she needed to know where the hell her sister was.

Hearing footsteps behind her, she turned to greet Lucy, falling short when it was the much more apprehensive face of Cat Grant staring back at her.

“Christ, what else do I have to deal with,” Alex muttered again, barely acknowledging the other woman.

“Miss Danvers…I- do you know where-“

“If I knew do you think I’d be out here in the cold, pacing and calling for Kara?”

“Well, no-“

“Exactly. So you- go, and I’ll make sure my sister is alright. I trust you won’t make her job difficult for her.”

“What? No,” Cat began, taken aback. “Of course not, I-“

“Good. You’ve done enough.”

“Okay listen-“

“You don’t have the-“

“Let me finish my sentence!” Cat yelled in frustration. The tone made Alex pause in her attack, briefly, sizing the other woman up. “I won’t do anything about Kara’s work. Mostly because she doesn’t work for me, but also because she hasn’t done anything wrong.”

“Good, because she-“

“I didn’t know, okay?” Cat carried on, the guilt she felt from her earlier actions creeping up her spine as she was faced with the wrong Danvers. “When I heard you- in the bathroom- I thought…Well, on what possible earth could you be referring to me?”

“You…wait, you thought-“

“Yes. I thought you were talking about someone else. _Anyone_ but me. And I- well, we all know how I handled it,” she finished with a scoff. “Please believe me, I truly wouldn’t have been that callous had I known.”

“Then why did you do it?” Came a small voice from behind the two women, who looked to see Kara emerging from the entrance.

“Christ, Kara,” Alex breathed, pressing her hand to her heart. “Where the hell have you been? You ran out of here and I’ve been calling you-“

“Oh!” Kara gasped, bringing up her phone and seeing the chaos she’d left behind. “I’m sorry for making you worry, Alex, I got out here then realised you were my ride so I just, sort of, sat out here.”

“That’s…very like you,” concluded Alex, looking between the two women. “Now I know you’re okay, I’m going to head back inside for dinner. Come whenever you’re ready, Kara.”

“Thanks Alex,” Kara replied quietly, left alone with Cat for the first time that night. “So…”

“So.”

“Why did you do it?”

“Do what?” Cat replied immediately.

“Don’t play stupid. Why did you kiss him?”

“Can I not kiss people I’m on dates with, Kara?”

“You can when you want to kiss them,” Kara said, stepping toward Cat with intent. “You can when they’re the one you’re thinking of, and the one you’ve been flirting with for _weeks._ You definitely can, but not when you’re looking into someone else’s eyes while you’re doing it.”

Cat’s breath caught in her throat at the intensity of Kara’s gaze. Kara took one step forward again, reaching up to hold Cat’s face between her hands.

“You’re looking at me now, Cat. You’ve been flirting with _me._ You kiss _me._ ”

And without consideration for her date, for the fact that this was her son’s twenty-something teacher, for how ridiculous and juvenile this girl made her feel, Cat leaned in, swept up in her earnestness and her passion settled over her like a cape, and kissed her.

Kara’s long fingers threaded through Cat’s shorter locks, her right hand fisting at the base and _tugging_ and god did Cat feel that tug everywhere. Kara brought her other hand to cup Cat’s jaw, stroking gently.

Kara’s lips were soft and pliant over hers, moving with intent over her top lip, then bottom, catching each between her teeth intermittently. Cat wasn’t so sure she had ever felt so much from a kiss alone, which all changed when Cat felt Kara’s tongue part her lips and _suck._

Cat felt a sudden sense of vertigo, and a hot spike flow through her entire body, unsure just how this day had turned into her having a teenage and very public makeout in the parking lot of one of National City’s finest restaurants.

Taking a deep breath, Cat pulled back, trying to regain her footing. Kara, meanwhile, looked alarmingly smug, and gave Cat a few more seconds before again moving in to press her lips against hers once more.

“So, Miss Grant, do I make the cut this time?”

“Again, it’s Cat. And let’s try this,” she gestured vaguely between them, at once meaning the kiss, the closeness, the dangerous sense of completeness she felt at this moment, “a few more times to really be sure. Okay?”

“Okay,” Kara breathed, before leaning in to steal her breath once more.


End file.
